Czech Central Bank Dips Into Crypto With $1M Trial Allocation
Central Bank Experiments With Digital Assets
The Czech National Bank (CNB) has bought digital assets worth $1 million for the first time, creating a pilot portfolio that includes BTC, a U.S. dollar–pegged stablecoin, and a tokenized bank deposit. The central bank said the purchase is meant to build practical experience in managing cryptocurrencies and tokenized instruments rather than a policy move toward holding them in reserves.
The acquisition, approved by the CNB’s board on Oct. 30, was made outside its existing international reserve portfolio and will not be expanded for now. “The aim was to test decentralized BTC from the central bank’s perspective and to evaluate its potential role in diversifying our reserves,” Governor Aleš Michl said. “Subsequent internal discussions broadened the scope to include the future of of assets.”
The CNB said the portfolio will assist its teams assess technical, legal, and operational processes such as key management, multi-level approvals, accounting treatment, and anti–money-laundering controls. “Although much is known in theory, only practice will reveal the details and hardies of day-to-day operation,” the bank said in a statement.
Investor Takeaway
Governor Michl: “We Want to Test This Path”
Michl said the exercise would not affect monetary policy or foreign-platform operations. “The koruna is our legal tender,” he said. “The CNB will continue to strive to keep inflation low and the koruna strong. However, new ways of paying and investing will emerge rapidly in the years ahead. As a central bank, we want to test this path.”
He added that the CNB will report on its findings over the next two to three years. The pilot coincides with the launch of the CNB Lab Innovation Hub, a program aimed at testing financial-technology applications in areas such as payments, blockchain, and data analytics to assist inform future monetary-policy decisions.
The CNB stressed that the $1 million test portfolio’s limited size would not have a material effect on its financial position. “It is significant to emphasise that the value of BTC may fluctuate substantially,” Michl said. “No without being aware of the significant risks involved.”
Background: Earlier Crypto Exploration
The central bank began examining BTC in January as part of a broader effort to diversify its international assets following the shift in the United States. At that time, Michl proposed allocating up to $7.3 billion—around 5% of CNB reserves—to BTC, calling it an asset with “zero correlation to bonds and an interesting profile for a large portfolio.” The board did not approve the proposal.
In July, the CNB added 51,732 shares of Coinbase, valued at about $18 million, to its investment holdings. The bank said the purchase was part of its diversification strategy and unrelated to its digital-asset test portfolio.
The CNB’s move follows similar exploratory steps by other monetary authorities. Earlier this year, Taiwan’s government said it would publish a by the end of 2025. Several European and Asian central banks are running controlled experiments with tokenized assets to understand settlement, custody, and accounting standards in a blockchain environment.
Investor Takeaway
What Comes Next
According to the CNB, the test portfolio will run for several years, during which the bank will assess operational procedures for storing, auditing, and settling blockchain-based assets. It plans to release findings to the public once the program concludes. The central bank said the experiment is designed to maintain in-house technical knowledge and ensure readiness if global reserve management begins to incorporate digital assets in the future.
Michl said that while the pilot is limited, he expects tokenized instruments to play a larger role in everyday transactions and investments. “It is realistic to expect that, in the future, it will be simple to use the koruna to purchase tokenized Czech bonds and more—with one tap an espresso; with another an investment such as a bond or another asset that used to be the preserve of larger investors,” he said.
The CNB’s initiative stops short of a formal BTC-reserve policy but marks the first confirmed instance of a European central bank directly acquiring BTC and other digital assets under its own management.
